The KIA Picanto GT-Line you see below was borrowed from Matt at WhiteLine Driving School in Geelong near the end of 2025, because the Hyundai Sedan N needed a break before a major service…
Matt was kindly able to offer this vehicle to us for a short period of time which really helped out being so close to the end of the year.
Thank you, Matt! 🙂
Check out WhiteLine Driving School: https://www.whitelinedrivingschool.com.au/
Now let’s take a deeper look back on 2025!
We got back on the roads with a Under 21 FREE lesson day in January
These free lessons days are all about giving back to the community by offering 16 – 20 year old learners professional driving lessons in an effort to encourage safer and better driving during their 120 hour requirement.
Unfortunately, we were only able to have them in January, April, July & November, however a total of 18 free driving lessons were completed!
For more information on this initiative, visit: Free
More free training was offered throughout the year to L2P mentors
Thank you to all the L2P mentors that got involved during the year.
We had some great drives together! 🙂
From this, came some amazing reviews that I’m truly grateful for.
Find out more about my free offer for L2P mentors: Mentor Refresher
Here’s a fantastic review from an L2P mentor…
Student success in 2025:
Spotlight on Mikayla’s story
Some people get ripped off by other driving instructors due to our poorly regulated industry, Mikayla was one of them!
To read about Mikayla’s story, visit: A Difficult Yet Amazing Driving Journey With Mikayla
RYDA Road Safety Program
In 2024, I joined Road Safety Education Limited (RSE) as a driver for the Speed & Stopping component with their RYDA road safety program.
By 2025, I quickly became a facilitator of that component and joined their Driver Coach program in person and online.
RSE has been fantastic to work with. Across the year, I was able to assist delivering 24 workshops in Victoria!
For more information on RYDA, visit: https://rse.org.au/about-ryda/
In The Drivers Seat
(I just made it!)
Pictured above: Steve Pitchford (from QLD) & myself.
In the Driver’s Seat (ITDS) pairs vision impaired people (VIPs) with driving instructors on a race track, therefore giving them the chance to get behind the wheel and drive once again.
This event has been running for 25+ years!
I was fortunate enough to just make this event, because a month before this I was in the hospital intensive care unit due to a near death experience.
For more information on ITDS, visit: https://www.warrandyte-lions.org/in-the-drivers-seat
Check out a video I made for this event…
Link to video: https://youtu.be/saT5rtNlWlw
Meeting Ashley Neal in Liverpool, UK
Near the end of 2025, I took advantage of a visit to the UK meeting up with a popular driving instructor in Liverpool, Ashley Neal!
We drove around the area and had some great chats. Ashley recorded the entire drive where he observed my driving.
Check out the video…
Link to video: https://youtu.be/6rak3M47PGI
But, 2025 wasn’t all that great…
Unfortunately, as pictured above, we were reversed into on a driving lesson!
There is more to this image, but the fact is the driver of the red vehicle wasn’t aware of their surroundings!
If you would like to know more about this, feel free to email me at crudedriving@gmail.com
A reminder not to give up!
At the start of 2025, Jessica, who began driving with me back in 2021 finally passed their drive test and achieved their solo driver’s licence.
Every person is different and we all learn differently, but persistence and consistency is key!
If you’re one of my current student drivers, please don’t be afraid to have a discussion with me around your progress and remember, never give up!
Check out what Jessica had to say about our experience together in this heart warming review…
A final message!
Back in 2025, this message was created – “See the life, not the vehicle.”
Let’s look out for one another on our roads in 2026 and beyond!
Sincerely,
Courtenay Rufus
Director and Driving Educator
CRUDE Ultimate Driving Education
Thanks for reading this blog post! 🙂
Read the previous blog post: Did You Know?